Another 'Turn Of The Screw' Adaptation – The Third Arriving In 2020 – Is Coming To Quibi
Who knew The Turn of the Screw was so hot? Henry James' 1898 horror novella is already the inspiration for two upcoming projects: the horror movie The Turning and the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor. You might think that two would be enough, but apparently not, because there's now a third adaptation in the works. This one comes from Quibi, the upcoming streaming service devoted to short-form content.
If the upcoming movie and Netflix adaptations of The Turn of the Screw aren't enough for you, perhaps a short-form take will do. Deadline has the scoop on a Turn of the Screw Quibi series, which is described as "A twisty Gothic soap reimagined for modern times" and follows "a young Mexican-American nanny who is hired to care for the two children at their summer home on an idyllic island in the Pacific Northwest. It seems like the perfect job, but things take a sinister turn when the nanny begins seeing ghosts and her grip on reality begins to blur."
The series comes from Alexandra McNally (Under the Dome), Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva, CSI) and Sony Pictures Television. Since it's headed to Quibi, you can expect it to be broken up into short episodes (about 10 minutes, give or take), as that's Quibi's whole deal. The upcoming streaming service is "a mobile-first media technology platform bringing together the best of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Quibi is the first entertainment platform built for easy, on-the-go mobile viewing, allowing today's leading studios and creative talent to tell original stories in an entirely new way."
Quibi's Turn of the Screw joins a surprisingly fast-growing list of adaptations of James' novella. January 2020 will see the release of The Turning, a feature adaptation starring Mackenzie Davis and Finn Wolfhard. Then, later in the year, the second season of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House will take on the story with The Haunting of Bly Manor. Like the James story, and the Quibi adaptation, both of these projects focus on a nanny hired to care for children in what might be a haunted house.
I'm honestly not sure why The Turn of the Screw is suddenly a hot commodity. The story has already been adapted into a pretty great film – 1961's The Innocents – so it'll be interesting to see what, if anything, can be added with new takes on the material.
Quibi is set to launch April 6, 2020.